X-rated Tolkien: it's not for the kiddies

The Sunday Times ^ | September 24, 2006 | Maurice Chittenden

[ZOOKER]

There's usually a reason why unpublished works from famous authors are unpublished. Most of the time the work is not up to the author's standards.

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

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[hellinahandcart]

review

[Rocko]

Thanks for the ping!

[Old Student]

Kalevala is the Finnish National Myth, aka "The Land of Heroes." It is, by turns, light and dark, with more than it's fair share of the sort of gloom the northern European peoples abound in. Look at the Norse myth of Ragnarok. Seems to me the Russians have quite a bit of that sort of thing in their legends, too. Chernebog, for example.

[SauronOfMordor]

I can imagine the reason JRR abandoned the manuscript is that he didn't believe it held up to his standard

Writers write lots of things. A good writer knows what's good enough to release, and what should be tossed. When children release their parents unreleased work, it's usually dreck

[JenB]

Nitpicking... as those who've read Silmarillion know, Hurin and his children were fully human, not elves.

Eh.... I never really liked that story. Liked it better once I'd read "The Kalevala" and seen the source material. I'll probably pass...

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I read the story of Turin in the "Silmarillion" and I thought it was very depressing. Not only does Turin commit incest (unknowingly) with his sister, he kills his best friend and nearly commits suicide from that. But in the end, he kills the dragon and then himself, providing closure.

It really shows Morgoth as much more powerful than Sauron.

[dljordan]

"Queen maeve and the cattle raid of cooley,The tale of deidre of the sorrows,The legend of Cu Chulainn etc."

I read a compilation of them not too long ago. Cheered me right up.

[SuziQ]

Hey, if I had to live with all that reduced sunlight and snow cover, I'd stay depressed, too!

[SuziQ]

Interesting to hear that this particular work is based on the "Kalevala". I had thought that LOTR was, also, but maybe not. It sounds like a book I might like! ;o)

[Old Student]

"Hey, if I had to live with all that reduced sunlight and snow cover, I'd stay depressed, too!"

Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD, in a place where the season lasts about 8 months, would, indeed, be hard to take. No freaking wonder the Vikings and such kept sailing to points south! Thank Heaven for halogen lamps!

[2Jedismom]

Excellent post! Thank you MadIvan!

Thanks for the ping, ecurbh!

[2Jedismom]

Dorothy Heydt, a writer of fantasy and science fiction, said: “Turin had more grief in his life than anybody ought to. The story is based on a Finnish folk tale and is full of incest and suicide and stuff.”

My, how articulate.

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[Old Student]

"My, how articulate."

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? I'm a writer of fantasy and science fiction, too. The fantasy part is that someday I'll get paid for it. I've never heard of this lady, so maybe she writes for fanzines or something like that. Of course, I'd not heard of David Weber or Eric Flint a decade or so ago, either.

[Oystir]

I know stuff.

[MNJohnnie]

It has its roots in the trenches of WW1. Tolkien was a solider and a combat vet. It is not suppose to be a children's tale.

[MNJohnnie]

How about John Ringo?

[JenB]

If you enjoy the flavor of, say, Norse mythology, you might like Kalevala a lot. It's an epic poem so finding a good translation is important. Lord of the Rings is not based on Kalevala but some of the Silmarillion is.